Ottawa city council is moving forward with a bid by local developers to give Lansdowne Park a $100-million facelift.

Instead of accepting the Lansdowne Live plan as it stands, the city will now work with Minto boss Roger Greenberg and his team, which includes Ottawa 67's owner Jeff Hunt and developers Bill Shenkman and John Ruddy, to reach an agreement on how to move forward with reshaping Lansdowne Park.

The motion put forward by Coun. Rick Chiarelli passed 14-9 Wednesday afternoon.

"Today, we made a decision that our number one priority is Lansdowne Park," Chiarelli told council after the vote.

The Lansdowne Live bid currently includes plans to build a multi-use, open-air stadium at Lansdowne Park, which would bring a CFL franchise to Ottawa. It also promises to redevelop the area into a "people place" and includes plans for a refurbished arena, exhibition space, formal gardens and ponds and commercial buildings.

"I think the problem that we have is called Lansdowne and overall the site needs to be rehabilitated," said Coun. Rainer Bloess, who cited the financial benefits of teaming up with developers to reshape Lansdowne Park.

"It's a money-pit for us right now, it's draining valuable funds away and we need to do something," he said.

Chiarelli said if council didn't move forward with plans to redevelop Lansdowne, the city would continue to spend $55 million of taxpayers' money over the next 10 years to keep things exactly as they are now: "a pile of rubble with a hole in the south-side stands."

Chiarelli adds although CFL football is a major component of the Lansdowne Live plan, he views it as an afterthought.

He says the real issue is dealing with redeveloping Lansdowne Park in a way that's affordable.

"This gives us the opportunity to have someone else come in and help us pay for the whole redevelopment, so that by the end of the third-year period it's cost taxpayers nothing, but we have something to be really proud of," he said.

Plans for the city to provide 30-acres of land and $10 million in cash to help Eugene Melnyk in his bid to build a soccer stadium in Kanata have been put on hold until council votes on the final Lansdowne Live proposal.